We released our first CD with some apprehension. Here are some of the nice things
which people have said to me about the CD (to save their embarrassment I have not
mentioned their names): Click here for Keith Chester's extended
review.

"Actually, after a first look on the Sweet Dreams-CD, I can only say:
WOW! Really, some shots are absolutely great!"
"Great to see what I missed on my one and only visit in 1993...Really surprising how
many different open-line-shots there are possible!
Once more, thank you very much for sending the CD - it will be warmly recommended in one
of the next "fernexpress"-issues!"

"Thanks very much. I've had a good look at the contents and am most impressed. The
reproduction of the photographs is brilliant.
Also liked the presentation, the instructions, and its complete user friendliness.My
computer literacy is just above basic but I had no trouble finding my way around."

"I received the CD on Monday. It is great, congratulations ! I am waiting for the
second CD with steam on the state railway."

"The CD arrived in good condition. We've had an opportunity to view it and are
quite impressed obviously not only with the subject matter, but also the picture quality.
You have done a fine job and we are looking forward to spending many hours viewing it in
detail."

"The seemingly endless supply of high-quality stills are
very impressive."

"Thanks very much for the CD, which contains some excellent shots and would be most
informative for a person who had not ever been there. I really enjoyed it. "

"Pictures which display quite brilliantly"

Keith Chester's review follows (totally as received, I
promise!):

"Nearly twenty years ago I first went to the island of Java to look at the
remaining steam on the state railway, the PJKA. Roaring around the island in ancient
Mercedes buses and clapped out Buick taxes, I kept having distant glimpses of tiny narrow
gauge steam locos in the canefields. Eventually I even got to photograph a few and a
fascination with the sugar cane railways of Indonesia and their brightly painted engines
was born; a fascination which has not been diminished by the years and many return visits
to Java.

But what was my fascination has been Rob Dickinson's love affair. He took his first
photo in Java's sugar fields in the mid 1970s and has been back to the island nearly every
year since. Not only has he photographed and filmed these delightful engines (which
incidentally range in size from miniscule 0-4-0Ts to substantial 0-10-0s and embrace a
host of methods for getting locos around sharp curves: Mallets, Klein Lindner &
Lüttermoller axles, Engerth style "Stütztender" etc etc), but has also become
incredibly well-versed in their history and ways.

The photos and the knowledge have all been put to excellent use in "Sweet
Dreams", a CD-Rom containing 300 images and 16 video clips of the Javanese sugar
railways. Divided into sections focussing on a specific aspect of operations or
locomotives, the flexibility of the CD-Rom offers a very good overall view of what can
(still) be seen and experienced in Java.

Looking at "Sweet Dreams" was my first experience with a CD-Rom. As someone
who has grave doubts about the quality of video as a medium, I was somewhat sceptical
about the whole idea. I must say, however, that I was very pleasantly surprised. The
system is incredibly easy to use, even for a computer-illiterate like myself. Picture
quality is far better than I had expected (and of course will only improve over the
years).

Some of the images are rather dark, but presumably this reflects the quality of the
original slide and some should have been omitted. My major criticism is that some images
kept cropping up in different sections: I would have thought that after all these years of
photting in Java, RD would have enough different photos not to have to do this.

Most of the photos date from the 1990s and if you've never been to Java, they provide
an excellent introduction to the sheer variety of steam on offer. Personally I was
disappointed that there were not more images from RD's earlier visits in the 1970s and of
types no longer to be seen. But this is a minor quibble. "Sweet Dreams" awoke in
me a whole host of very sweet memories, enough to make me think of coming out of my
gricing retirement and of going back to Java. And for those of you yet to enjoy the Java
experience, it should have you rushing to book that plane ticket now."